Anthropic said on Sunday it plans to commit 5% of its stock to a new public benefit fund, pending stockholder approval. The company, which makes the Claude AI model, named the vehicle the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund.
The board has the option of contributing a further 2% of the company's stock each time Anthropic's valuation climbs another 50% beyond a fixed starting point, the company said. It said the valuation milestones that could enlarge the stake will be disclosed over the next few months.
Anthropic is structuring the fund as a wholly owned LLC instead of a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, a choice it said lets it move among different styles of philanthropy. None of the stock the LLC holds will be directed to lobbying or political contributions, whether in the U.S. or overseas, the company said.
The company said the fund could be used for sizable gifts to established charities or for payments sent straight to particular groups of people. It pointed to labor market effects as one area of focus, noting that it has committed $200 million to studying and addressing the issue. The company said AI is advancing quickly enough that more ambitious responses could be required.
The fund builds on earlier commitments, according to Anthropic. Its co-founders pledged to donate 80% of their equity when the company was founded, and about half of employees take part in a program in which Anthropic matches equity they pledge to donate. With the new fund, about 20% of Anthropic stock will be dedicated to the public good, plus any added stake, the company said.
Anthropic said tech companies commonly offer escalating compensation awards to executives, and it is directing that equity to public benefit instead.
The company said it will provide further details on how the fund is organized and overseen over the next few months. It also intends to describe how the fund is advancing in its next public benefit report.
The announcement comes as Anthropic prepares for an initial public offering. Formal marketing of the offering could start as early as the week of Nov. 9, according to Bloomberg, a schedule that would have the company trading before the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday.
Anthropic has weighed a public offering that would value it at $2 trillion. The company submitted a confidential registration with the SEC earlier this year, and its S-1 filing has not been made public.
Tesla $TSLA and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk responded on X $TWTR by recommending that Anthropic give the stock directly to the public, according to CNBC.
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